Friday, March 30, 2012

Governments cannot redistribute wealth; they can only redistribute poverty. Governments cannot eliminate or curb poverty, they can only eliminate or curb wealth.

The only choice we have is a shared poverty under collectivism and central planning or "the disparities" that accompany the prosperity that is enabled by economic freedom.

There is no way to grow an economy to the benefit of all w/o the rich getting disproportionately richer. So if the very poor will have their wealth tripled, the very rich may have their wealth multiplied a thousandfold. Is this bad? Is a shared poverty preferable?

That is because Economic Freedom raises the bar on how much wealth that it is possible to create. And the concept of created wealth is something that collectivists cannot possibly fathom.

Do not begrudge Bill Gates his fortune. He did not attain it at our expense, taking a larger share of finite pies than the rest of us as the advocates of redistributionist central planning would have us believe. That may have been true under pre-industrial agrarian economies, but not since then.

Bill Gates and those like him have baked new, better, cheaper pies. In the process of enriching himself making computers more powerful and easier to afford, he has also increased what it is possible for us all to attain.

He is a greater benefactor to mankind than Mother Theresa could have been in 10 lifetimes.

"Liberals see conservatives as being motivated by an opposition to liberals’ core values of compassion and fairness, as well as being motivated by their own (non-moral) values of in group loyalty, respect for authorities and traditions, and spiritual purity. For instance, when conservatives express binding-foundation moral concerns about gay marriage—e.g., that it subverts traditional gender roles and family structures—liberals may have difficulty perceiving any moral value in such traditional arrangements and therefore conclude that conservatives are motivated by simple homophobia, untempered by concerns about fairness, equality, and rights."
Commentary by walford

When Rick Santorum was recently being interrogated at a college forum about his opposition to gay marriage -- when he wanted to talk about the economy -- a part of his response [that was ignored by the media] was that civil unions are available. [I would add that a person can designate anyone to have financial and medical power of attorney.] He also went on to say that those who wish to change existing laws should make their case [democratically] in the legislatures by our elected representatives rather than in the Courts [by an unelected elite with lifetime tenure whose rulings are only subject to review by other appointed judges].

I would go on to add that marriage is an institution that has developed independently in every society and pre-dates written history. The community as a whole is invested in it because a major aspect and result of marriage -- under what circumstances children are born and reared -- has an effect upon us all. When humans were rare and vulnerable, our ancestors developed social structures and norms that had a direct effect upon survival of the group. We are each descended from those who made the right decisions in that regard.

If the vital institution of the family is to change via government sanction as well as by social mores, this is something the general population needs to discuss at length and any laws enacted be subject to revision and review as consequences make themselves apparent.

Conservative opposition to taxpayer-funded birth control -- beyond any religious objection -- is that it, in combination with abortion, greatly contribute to Westerners selecting ourselves for extinction and women being expected to sexually service men with no commitment. We do not regard this as being liberating or respectful. Behaviors are enabled that in turn create opportunities for micro-organisms to develop -- which our vaunted technology then helps to spread globally -- that otherwise would affect local populations only. Our fertility and continued survival is thusly undermined further. Conservatives consistently hold that Nature's Laws cannot be cheated and that we cannot change the rules of life on this planet to suit fleeting urges.

The pattern is familiar enough. First we are lectured about being tolerant. Then we are pressed to be accepting. All too often it is finally demanded of us to subsidize.

I will be so bold as to say that the above more typifies the conservative mindset than the Straw Men that are so routinely offered to be knocked down.

Instead, it is alleged that conservatives are waging a war on women's freedom and prudishly desire to impinge upon everybody's fun. We are telling people with whom they can be intimate because we are homophobic. And let us entertain this widely offered accusation for a moment. Homophobia is an irrational fear of homosexuals because the afflicted person fears that exposure will bring forth his/her own latent homosexuality. A phobia is a mental disorder. Therefore, those who think that homosexuality is anything but something one is born as; if it is considered anything other than an equally valid alternate lifestyle -- are proof-positive mentally ill. This blanket diagnosis is issued on a regular basis, regardless of the nature of the contrary view -- be it religious, biological, psychological and/or..."ew".

This demonstrates how Leftist caricatures of conservatives are ultimately based upon elitism. They cannot conceive of anyone disagreeing with them without being by definition stupid, ill-informed, and/or evil. Also, it is quite possible for Leftists to insulate themselves into intellectual enclaves of the like-minded with little exposure to the contrary.

For our part, we conservatives would have to take great lengths to avoid the Leftist viewpoint. They dominate the entertainment industry, the media, academia and the political class. Predictably, they look upon this from an elitist lens as well. In candid moments, they let it slip that they think that this is so because they are better informed.

The reality is the Aristocracy has shifted from being by birth to that of political pull. It is no less medievalist. The general population is on a visceral level distrusted as incorrigibly ignorant and should therefore be silenced or marginalized if it cannot be manipulated into accepting dicta from Our Betters.

We are constantly barraged with The Cause from the schools, the news and entertainment. This in turn has created a hunger for alternatives -- hence the increasing interest in vouchers, home-schooling as well as the high ratings of conservative news and commentary. The general population may not have had the level of access to information as did the self-appointed elites -- the Internet has served greatly to equalize that disadvantage -- but they have always had Common Sense. People know when they are being lied to and when they are being sold a bill of goods.

We are neither stupid, ignorant nor evil -- as the Left thinks and hopes we are.

Hence, the majority -- knowingly or not -- still holds to the essential conservative values of freedom, individual responsibility, objective reality and morality as being something that is externally generated and thus must be discovered, rather than made.